耶路撒冷，耶路撒冷---《Jerusalem: The Biography 》（1）

Simon Jonathan Sebag-Montefiore (born 27 June 1965, London) is a British historian and writer

City of Gods

刚开始读这本书。据评论这是关于耶路撒冷最好的一本书。我的目的是要看一个史学家如何写这个城市的，而不是宗教家。Simon Sebag Montefiore以写历史题材闻名，他的有关历史题材的传记都得到很高的评价。而他和耶路撒冷似乎还有个人家庭的渊源和牵连，所以除了学术性的研究外，又有怀乡追忆的惆怅和哀伤。至今为止，萨伊德的自传《格格不入》是让我了解以色列建国的最直接，最精辟的来源，以个人的经历反映了时代和历史的变迁。

Simon's father, a doctor, is descended from a famous line of wealthy Sephardic Jews who became diplomats and bankers all over Europe. At the start of the 19th century, by playing the markets based on intelligence about the Battle of Waterloo, Simon's great-great uncle, Sir Moses Montefiore, became a banking partner of N M Rothschild & Sons. By contrast, Simon’s mother, April, a novelist, comes from a Lithuanian Jewish family of poor scholars. (Simon is related to Gwyneth Paltrow through his great-grandmother, a Paltrovitch.) Her parents fled the Russian Empire at the turn of the 20th century. They bought tickets for New York City but were cheated and dropped off at Cork, Ireland. In Ireland, they survived the 1904 Limerick pogrom and fled again, to Newcastle, England.

而这个N M Rothschild & Sons. 就是这几年鼎鼎有名的《货币战争》里讲的故事。。。